I can't believe Luke is 3 weeks old already. I know I'm going to miss alot in this update.
First of all, I have to say this new motherhood thing is easier the 2nd time around. I think a big part of it is that I'm not nearly as nervous about things and know that for the most part, I can't screw things up too bad. Eric and I also have decided that at least the first few weeks are "survival mode", so we're not getting worked up about setting routines or anything like that yet. I'm also, amazingly, not documenting everything. I am not keeping track of what's in each diaper, how often they are changed, all the feedings, number of hours slept, etc. I try to keep in mind a general idea of the last time he ate, just so I know when he cries if it's likely he's hungry. Anyway, it's either our attitudes, he's an easier baby, or some other factor, but I'm much happier this time. By happier, I mean no hints of post-partum depression. I've only cried 2 or 3 times since we've been home. Compared to every day for the first 6 weeks with Grace.
When we checked out of the hospital, Luke's discharge weight was 9 pounds 15 ounces. We were told that he needed to be at his discharge weight at the 5-7 day weight check and back to birth weight at 2 weeks. We did a weight check appointment at 6 days and he had lost weight and was down to 9 pounds 12 ounces. Also at that appointment the doctor thought he looked a little jaundiced, so she took some blood to see if we needed to do anything regarding treatment. We got a call that afternoon that his bilirubin levels were high, so they had a "Wallaby" blanket delivered that we had to have Luke hooked up to until his weight recheck on Thursday (about 36 hours). Having him hooked up to the blanket was a real challenge because while we could hold and feed him, the blanket had to stay plugged in at all times, so we were pretty much confined to the swing and rocking chair and then at night, I plugged him in next to the bed and cosleeper. Luckily on Thursday when they rechecked him, he was better, so we got to keep him off of it for good. Regarding the weight issue, we supplemented with formula after a couple of feedings (just 1 or 2 ounces) for a couple days and at the recheck 2 days later, Luke gained 9 ounces and was back up to 10 pounds 5 ounces, so all was good.
Regarding feeding. We have pretty much been exclusively breastfeeding. Luke was a natural and latched on in the delivery room. On the 2nd day, I had a lactation consultant come visit and she recommended that I keep trying him on both breasts and that I get a pump to try to get the right side stimulated. Luke wasn't really interested in the right side as the nipple is much flatter and just not as "ready" for feeding. They brought me a pump that evening and after a feeding, I hooked up and pumped for about 10 minutes. The left side gave us some more colustrum, but the right side didn't produce a drop. That 10 minutes with the pump brought back so many negative memories from my experience with Grace, so a couple hours later after our next feeding when it was time to pump, I just said "no." I decided I can deal with one breast only and I'm not going to torture myself with pumping again. I'd rather use formula. Except for those couple of days when we've supplemented after a feeding, I've been exclusively breastfeeding on the left side. At our 2 week appointment Luke had regained his birthweight and he seems content after each feeding and eats every 2 to 3 hours, so I think we're doing just fine. I can give him all the credit though, because it's been relatively easy. I haven't had cracked or bleeding nipples, he immediately latches on and doesn't ususually fall asleep while eating. He gets a full meal in about 10 to 15 minutes and we've even fed in public. I think not being stressed about how to feed him helped. I wasn't against formula, but since breastfeeding is working and mostly enjoyable, I'm going with it. I especially like that I don't have to actually "get up" over night. I just prop myself up with pillows in bed, get him out of the cosleeper and when he's done I try to put him back and go back to sleep. No bottles to prepare or warm up, just need me and him. I'm not sure how I'll handle things when we go back to work. I just bought a manual pump that I'm going to try out next week after feedings. I didn't really want to pay a bunch of money for a electric double pump for work, but if possible, it would be nice to pump at work, so he can still have breastmilk during the day at Amy's. The other option would be to give him formula during the day, so I don't have to pump, but I'm concerned that would negatively effect my supply for the other feedings, so I'll have to see. I may have to pay for a better pump, but I'm going to give it a try for 2 weeks at home before we go to Iowa to visit.
Sleeping is interesting. Not sure why, but I am not nearly as exhausted as I remember being with Grace. We've been trying to have Luke sleep in a cosleeper that I borrowed from Samara. It's nice to have him so close at night when he needs to eat. Especially since he fusses and grunts a bit before he cries, so most of the time I can get him started eating before he is actually crying. Although lately, he refuses to sleep unless he's being held or next to me, so I've been sleeping while holding him or laying next to him in bed. I am not giving up on the cosleeper yet, but again, this is survival time. We can undo any of these bad habits later. On a brighter note, we're starting to get longer stretches at night. He was only going 2 to 3 hours even at night, but this week we've had a couple stretches closer to 4 hours and he will do 3 hours easier. We even had one night that went from 11 p.m. to 3:50 a.m., so that one was great. Hopefully, a bigger baby will start sleeping though the night sooner, but I feel pretty good overall, so I'm not going to complain much.
I'm still not sure what to do with him when he's awake. He will sit in the swing or bouncy seat while awake for 10 minutes or so, but other than that he likes to be held alot. He's getting used to the sling, because I can't just hold him all day. He'll also lay on my lap while I'm typing (what we're doing right now). He does like tummy time too, so we'll get on the floor on a blanket. I'm ready for him to start interacting more and can't wait until we get the awake smiles. Grace will like that too. She likes to make silly faces at him and gets sad when he doesn't laugh or smile at her. We keep telling her he's still too little, but I think it'll be good for her when he can respond.
That's all I can think of at the moment. I'm pretty sure there's a diaper to change, so I should go take care of that and get a snack before I go pick up Grace.
Wednesday, May 28, 2008
Thursday, May 15, 2008
Luke's Birth Story
Details are already getting fuzzy, so I thought I should try to get this in writing. Here is the story on how Luke made his way into the world.
Our induction was scheduled for 6:00 a.m. That is really early though, so of course I slept about 10 minutes longer than I should have, so we were running late. Grace heard everyone showering, so she was also up by 5:30 a.m. and ready to start her day with Nana. I knew I wouldn't be able to eat, so I made a bagel with cream cheese for the road. Eric had to stop for coffee, but we still made good time and got up to Labor and Delivery at about 6:10 a.m. We were taken to our room and the nurse took down all my history, took some blood, started my IV and checked me to see where we were starting. Still no change from the previous appointment (about 2 cm and 60-70% effaced).
They went ahead and started my Pitocin around 7 a.m. and were waiting on a resident or my doctor to come in to break my water. Contractions started up, but were managable. We had lots of discussion about how long labor would take. My Mom and Eric both thought it would be late evening around 8 or 9 p.m. My guess was 3:10 p.m. Samara had guessed the day before and said 1:55 p.m. The nurse seemed to think we'd be done by the time her shift ended at 3 p.m. Finally, around 8 a.m. they tracked down a resident to break my water. It was different than having it break on it's own. Grace's was more of a trickle where this time it seemed like tons more any time I moved.
Samara came in around 8:30 a.m. to join the party. I didn't write down all the times and such, but I know my contractions got stronger after my water broke and I moved to the rocking chair so I wouldn't be confined to the bed. I knew once I got my epidural that I'd have to get back in bed. I got checked after an hour or so and was at 3 cm. The nurse started asking if I was ready for my epidural. I felt like a wuss. The contractions were strong, but managable, but I knew eventually I'd want the epidural and I didn't want to "need" it and have to wait a long time, so I agreed to go ahead and get it. With Grace I was at 6 cm before I got it, so I felt like I was wimping out a bit, but I knew I'd get it eventually, so whatever.
I know I got checked 2 more times and was at 4 cm both times. That made me a bit sad, because the 2nd time was still around noon and I started thinking it was going to take a really long time. The good news was that with my epidural they could dial up the Pitocin and I really couldn't feel it. Over the next 2 hours or so, things got more interesting. When they checked me, they had a really hard time telling how far I was dialated. The best explanation the nurse could give me was that his head was coming down at a slight angle so the cervix was dialting uniformly. At one point she said she'd call me 6 cm, but it was more like a face of a clock. Where the 8 o'clock to 12 o'clock was covered, but the rest was completely open. At this point I was really starting to feel a lot of pressure, but again, I was only fully dialated on part of the cervix.
Also, fairly early on, my nurse said that in anticipation of a possible complicated delivery, my doctor was requesting that no one be in the room with me other than Eric. The nurse was going to see if she could let Mom and Samara stand back near the doorway, so if things got hairy they could just exit without getting in the way, but it was going to be the doctors decision.
Finally, as it started nearing 3:00 p.m. (probably between 2:30 and 2:45 p.m.), my nurse decided to let me have a trial push to see if I could push past the rest of the cervix and get to fully dialated. It worked and she immediately had me stop, so she could call the doctor over. Dr. B arrived in minutes and got set up. She confirmed that she wanted only Eric in the room, as she was going to have an extra resident doctor, an extra nurse, plus the Special Care nursery nurses in the room, just in case. They also got a stool ready to help them get up onto my bed if they needed to push from above and showed Eric where to stand if they needed to move him.
Mom and Samara exited the room at 3:00 p.m. and it was time to get started. I wasn't feeling any pain, but I did feel extreme pressure with every contraction. I started pushing and within 2 or maybe 3 contractions, we were ready to deliver his head. (Funny story, at this point, I was still getting kicks from little Luke.) Dr. B said that as soon as his head came out, she would check the cord, suction as needed, but have me go ahead and continue to push to see if we could just ease the shoulders on out before they had a chance to turn. So the next push came. I closed my eyes and pushed. His head delivered and then I heard Dr. B tell the nurse to hit the call button. I still had my eyes closed but suddenly the room seemed to fill with even more people. Dr. B was giving orders to people and I had to listen carefully about when to push and when not to as they had to manouver to get my little man out. A big male doctor had come in and was doing the pushing from above. Dr. B apparently reached in (don't ask me how that happened, my eyes were closed), she turned his shoulder and pulled him out.
I felt him come out and opened my eyes to see Dr. B catch him and go down to the floor. Apparently he was very slippery and she didn't want to drop him. They immediately handed him over to the Special Care nursery unit to see if he had movement in both arms or a broken clavical. I didn't get to see him or hold him first and Eric didn't get to cut the cord. At that point things slowed down a little. His birth was announced at 3:18 p.m. (quite a busy 18 minutes). He quickly showed movement in both arms and no broken bones, although his forehead was pretty banged up. I also only needed 1 stitch to fix me up.
I asked Dr. B if we had another shoulder issue and she laughed and said, "Oh yeah, that was the 2nd worst one I've ever had to deliver." Looking around the room, our estimate was 4 doctors and at least 6 nurses in attendence for the birth. Once he was being checked, I heard someone say, that doesn't look like a 9 pound baby. Our main nurse went to go get Mom and Samara from the waiting room. Once they were all back, we weighed in and saw the result, 10 pounds, 8 ounces. I just laughed. I guess I shouldn't have been worried about delivering a little 7 pound baby because we went 2 1/2 weeks early.
Once I finally got to hold him, Luke immediately started rooting, so we did our first breastfeeding session in the delivery room. He latched on immediately and hasn't really detached since (joke).
So, that's the birth story. A lot has happened this week and I want to give more thoughts on his personality, but I have a feeling he's going to need fed soon. More to come later!
Our induction was scheduled for 6:00 a.m. That is really early though, so of course I slept about 10 minutes longer than I should have, so we were running late. Grace heard everyone showering, so she was also up by 5:30 a.m. and ready to start her day with Nana. I knew I wouldn't be able to eat, so I made a bagel with cream cheese for the road. Eric had to stop for coffee, but we still made good time and got up to Labor and Delivery at about 6:10 a.m. We were taken to our room and the nurse took down all my history, took some blood, started my IV and checked me to see where we were starting. Still no change from the previous appointment (about 2 cm and 60-70% effaced).
They went ahead and started my Pitocin around 7 a.m. and were waiting on a resident or my doctor to come in to break my water. Contractions started up, but were managable. We had lots of discussion about how long labor would take. My Mom and Eric both thought it would be late evening around 8 or 9 p.m. My guess was 3:10 p.m. Samara had guessed the day before and said 1:55 p.m. The nurse seemed to think we'd be done by the time her shift ended at 3 p.m. Finally, around 8 a.m. they tracked down a resident to break my water. It was different than having it break on it's own. Grace's was more of a trickle where this time it seemed like tons more any time I moved.
Samara came in around 8:30 a.m. to join the party. I didn't write down all the times and such, but I know my contractions got stronger after my water broke and I moved to the rocking chair so I wouldn't be confined to the bed. I knew once I got my epidural that I'd have to get back in bed. I got checked after an hour or so and was at 3 cm. The nurse started asking if I was ready for my epidural. I felt like a wuss. The contractions were strong, but managable, but I knew eventually I'd want the epidural and I didn't want to "need" it and have to wait a long time, so I agreed to go ahead and get it. With Grace I was at 6 cm before I got it, so I felt like I was wimping out a bit, but I knew I'd get it eventually, so whatever.
I know I got checked 2 more times and was at 4 cm both times. That made me a bit sad, because the 2nd time was still around noon and I started thinking it was going to take a really long time. The good news was that with my epidural they could dial up the Pitocin and I really couldn't feel it. Over the next 2 hours or so, things got more interesting. When they checked me, they had a really hard time telling how far I was dialated. The best explanation the nurse could give me was that his head was coming down at a slight angle so the cervix was dialting uniformly. At one point she said she'd call me 6 cm, but it was more like a face of a clock. Where the 8 o'clock to 12 o'clock was covered, but the rest was completely open. At this point I was really starting to feel a lot of pressure, but again, I was only fully dialated on part of the cervix.
Also, fairly early on, my nurse said that in anticipation of a possible complicated delivery, my doctor was requesting that no one be in the room with me other than Eric. The nurse was going to see if she could let Mom and Samara stand back near the doorway, so if things got hairy they could just exit without getting in the way, but it was going to be the doctors decision.
Finally, as it started nearing 3:00 p.m. (probably between 2:30 and 2:45 p.m.), my nurse decided to let me have a trial push to see if I could push past the rest of the cervix and get to fully dialated. It worked and she immediately had me stop, so she could call the doctor over. Dr. B arrived in minutes and got set up. She confirmed that she wanted only Eric in the room, as she was going to have an extra resident doctor, an extra nurse, plus the Special Care nursery nurses in the room, just in case. They also got a stool ready to help them get up onto my bed if they needed to push from above and showed Eric where to stand if they needed to move him.
Mom and Samara exited the room at 3:00 p.m. and it was time to get started. I wasn't feeling any pain, but I did feel extreme pressure with every contraction. I started pushing and within 2 or maybe 3 contractions, we were ready to deliver his head. (Funny story, at this point, I was still getting kicks from little Luke.) Dr. B said that as soon as his head came out, she would check the cord, suction as needed, but have me go ahead and continue to push to see if we could just ease the shoulders on out before they had a chance to turn. So the next push came. I closed my eyes and pushed. His head delivered and then I heard Dr. B tell the nurse to hit the call button. I still had my eyes closed but suddenly the room seemed to fill with even more people. Dr. B was giving orders to people and I had to listen carefully about when to push and when not to as they had to manouver to get my little man out. A big male doctor had come in and was doing the pushing from above. Dr. B apparently reached in (don't ask me how that happened, my eyes were closed), she turned his shoulder and pulled him out.
I felt him come out and opened my eyes to see Dr. B catch him and go down to the floor. Apparently he was very slippery and she didn't want to drop him. They immediately handed him over to the Special Care nursery unit to see if he had movement in both arms or a broken clavical. I didn't get to see him or hold him first and Eric didn't get to cut the cord. At that point things slowed down a little. His birth was announced at 3:18 p.m. (quite a busy 18 minutes). He quickly showed movement in both arms and no broken bones, although his forehead was pretty banged up. I also only needed 1 stitch to fix me up.
I asked Dr. B if we had another shoulder issue and she laughed and said, "Oh yeah, that was the 2nd worst one I've ever had to deliver." Looking around the room, our estimate was 4 doctors and at least 6 nurses in attendence for the birth. Once he was being checked, I heard someone say, that doesn't look like a 9 pound baby. Our main nurse went to go get Mom and Samara from the waiting room. Once they were all back, we weighed in and saw the result, 10 pounds, 8 ounces. I just laughed. I guess I shouldn't have been worried about delivering a little 7 pound baby because we went 2 1/2 weeks early.
Once I finally got to hold him, Luke immediately started rooting, so we did our first breastfeeding session in the delivery room. He latched on immediately and hasn't really detached since (joke).
So, that's the birth story. A lot has happened this week and I want to give more thoughts on his personality, but I have a feeling he's going to need fed soon. More to come later!
Saturday, May 10, 2008
Luke Is Here
Sorry it took a while to get updated, but you know how it is coming home from the hospital and everything. I'm not sure I have time for the complete birthstory right now. I think I'll work on that one next week when most of the visitors are gone.
Short story, I went to get induced as planned on Wednesday. I did get an epidural. He was born at 3:18 p.m. on Wednesday. We were surprised that he exceeded weight estimates and weighed in at a very healthy 10 pounds 8 ounces. Yeah, he was big. He was 22 inches long. I have a feeling we would have had a c-section if the doctor would have thought for a moment he was going to be that large.
It was another difficult delivery. My doctor was prepared for the worst, however, and although we had another case of shoulder dystosia (according to the doctor, the 2nd worst she'd ever had to deliver), he made it out safely and is in perfect condtion. Amazingly though, even though he was so big, I only pushed for about 15 minutes and I think he was stuck for less than 2 minutes. I only had 1 stitch and now 3 days postpartum am much less sore than I remember being with Grace.
We are working on breastfeeding and he latches on like a champ. We'll do a weight check on Monday to be sure he's getting enough, but he seems like he's doing good and he's interested about every 2 hours and seems content when he comes off, so that's good. He's also very calm. He gives plenty of cues when he starts fussing that we usually can get him hooked up with his next meal before he's actually "crying." Although, he despises diaper changes.
Pretty sure my milk is in as there is now a noticable difference in the breast size between the right and left. I think I'll have to get fitted for a special bra with some stuffing to look a little more even.
Again, I'll have to work on a post on the actual labor and delivery because it was a whirlwind and especially the delivery was a bit crazy and not exactly what I planned, (example, they wouldn't let my Mom or Samara stay in the room when I was ready to start pushing). He's gorgeous and looks just like his sister. I'm already in love.
Short story, I went to get induced as planned on Wednesday. I did get an epidural. He was born at 3:18 p.m. on Wednesday. We were surprised that he exceeded weight estimates and weighed in at a very healthy 10 pounds 8 ounces. Yeah, he was big. He was 22 inches long. I have a feeling we would have had a c-section if the doctor would have thought for a moment he was going to be that large.
It was another difficult delivery. My doctor was prepared for the worst, however, and although we had another case of shoulder dystosia (according to the doctor, the 2nd worst she'd ever had to deliver), he made it out safely and is in perfect condtion. Amazingly though, even though he was so big, I only pushed for about 15 minutes and I think he was stuck for less than 2 minutes. I only had 1 stitch and now 3 days postpartum am much less sore than I remember being with Grace.
We are working on breastfeeding and he latches on like a champ. We'll do a weight check on Monday to be sure he's getting enough, but he seems like he's doing good and he's interested about every 2 hours and seems content when he comes off, so that's good. He's also very calm. He gives plenty of cues when he starts fussing that we usually can get him hooked up with his next meal before he's actually "crying." Although, he despises diaper changes.
Pretty sure my milk is in as there is now a noticable difference in the breast size between the right and left. I think I'll have to get fitted for a special bra with some stuffing to look a little more even.
Again, I'll have to work on a post on the actual labor and delivery because it was a whirlwind and especially the delivery was a bit crazy and not exactly what I planned, (example, they wouldn't let my Mom or Samara stay in the room when I was ready to start pushing). He's gorgeous and looks just like his sister. I'm already in love.
Tuesday, May 06, 2008
37 Weeks & Amnio
Last Friday I had my 37 week doctor check up. No surprises. According to them, I didn't gain weight over the week and a half, so my final doctor check-up weight-gain is 28 pounds. Although, my personal scale shows about 32 pounds. Heartrate was good in the high 140's. Blood pressure normal. No real cervical change from last time. Still at 2cm and this time she said about 60% effaced. She said that I was "inducable" meaning that they would expect my cervix to continue changing with Pitocin. They confirmed a 6 a.m. induction time for Wednesday, May 7th and said they'll break my water and start my Pitocin. Although she warned me that she had just recently had to postpone an induction because the lungs weren't ready. If Luke wasn't ready, she said we'd move the induction to the following week. That bummed me out a little because I really had my heart set on getting this done soon.
The weekend was nice with Mom here and we made it to Samara's birthday dinner and Ava's birthday party. We also got about 10 days to 2 weeks worth of groceries, so we don't have to try to venture out next weekend.
I worked Monday and a half day today. Yesterday kind of stunk because I had my Mom take my car to the dealership for an oil change and to get my air conditioning fixed (I already had purchased the part, so no charge). However, they seemed to feel my car was in desperate need of some maintenance if I plan to keep it for any period of time. I managed to get out of there for just over $500 and a promise to buy 4 new tires in the next couple of weeks (whenever that stimulus check shows up!).
We also had a showing Friday, Monday, and today, so that was a little stressful figuring out how to get Mom out of the house and this weekend we set up the pack-n-play downstairs for a diaper changing/napping station and got the swing out of the basement, so the house is definately more cluttered.
Today my amnio was scheduled for 1 p.m. Mom and Eric came with me. I got the same ultrasound tech as last time and she spent a good 45 minutes looking at the baby again and took more measurements for size. She said his head "isn't too big", however, his belly measurement is off the chart, meaning over the 42 week gestation. She also said his femur measurement was on the big side, but again, not too alarming. This time, her weight estimate has us at 9 pounds 1 ounce, so looks like he slowed down the growth a bit. I'm still skeptical that he's that big already, but I guess we'll see. After she finished and got us some more 3D pictures of his face, the doctor and nurse came in to do the amnio. The doctor said it would feel about like a blood draw. I think he lied. It hurt. Not the worst pain I ever had, but for a couple hours afterwards it was still really sore and achy. Once they got the fluid, they had me rest and monitored the baby for about 45 minutes to an hour. They told me they'd call with the results and took down my cell phone number. We were waiting in the lobby on the elevator and someone came out and said they wanted to see me again. We went back in and they said the results came back. His lungs are mature!
So, the induction is on for tomorrow morning. I'm really excited, although it just kind of hit me that this is our last night with just Grace. I don't expect anyone will update my blog while I'm gone, but I should be home on Friday (barring any complications) and I'll at least get a picture downloaded and the basic stats. Can't believe it's finally here.
The weekend was nice with Mom here and we made it to Samara's birthday dinner and Ava's birthday party. We also got about 10 days to 2 weeks worth of groceries, so we don't have to try to venture out next weekend.
I worked Monday and a half day today. Yesterday kind of stunk because I had my Mom take my car to the dealership for an oil change and to get my air conditioning fixed (I already had purchased the part, so no charge). However, they seemed to feel my car was in desperate need of some maintenance if I plan to keep it for any period of time. I managed to get out of there for just over $500 and a promise to buy 4 new tires in the next couple of weeks (whenever that stimulus check shows up!).
We also had a showing Friday, Monday, and today, so that was a little stressful figuring out how to get Mom out of the house and this weekend we set up the pack-n-play downstairs for a diaper changing/napping station and got the swing out of the basement, so the house is definately more cluttered.
Today my amnio was scheduled for 1 p.m. Mom and Eric came with me. I got the same ultrasound tech as last time and she spent a good 45 minutes looking at the baby again and took more measurements for size. She said his head "isn't too big", however, his belly measurement is off the chart, meaning over the 42 week gestation. She also said his femur measurement was on the big side, but again, not too alarming. This time, her weight estimate has us at 9 pounds 1 ounce, so looks like he slowed down the growth a bit. I'm still skeptical that he's that big already, but I guess we'll see. After she finished and got us some more 3D pictures of his face, the doctor and nurse came in to do the amnio. The doctor said it would feel about like a blood draw. I think he lied. It hurt. Not the worst pain I ever had, but for a couple hours afterwards it was still really sore and achy. Once they got the fluid, they had me rest and monitored the baby for about 45 minutes to an hour. They told me they'd call with the results and took down my cell phone number. We were waiting in the lobby on the elevator and someone came out and said they wanted to see me again. We went back in and they said the results came back. His lungs are mature!
So, the induction is on for tomorrow morning. I'm really excited, although it just kind of hit me that this is our last night with just Grace. I don't expect anyone will update my blog while I'm gone, but I should be home on Friday (barring any complications) and I'll at least get a picture downloaded and the basic stats. Can't believe it's finally here.
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